Forgotten
by DatPanda
Summary: Cato woke up in the middle of a forest and heard a voice. He followed it, and his destination was full of chaos. The plane had crashed onto this island, and no one had any clue where they might have been. As the survivors wait to be rescued, many things happen that change who they are entirely. Some believed this to be punishment, and to some it was a chance at redemption.
1. Chapter 1: The Crash

The light should not have been this bright, but there it was shining through the tiny slits of Cato's drowsy hazel eyes. As they slowly opened, he noticed the sun directly above him with various plants surrounding him and creating a shadow above his torso. His button-up white shirt was diagonally ripped across the chest, revealing a portion of his chiseled skin. With a face caked in dirt, he attempted to stand up and felt a surge of pain shoot straight through his body.

"Shit!" he yelled as he held tightly onto his head, his pinky finger subtly massaging the temples in circles. It felt as if his nerve endings were cut off temporarily until he regained sense.

Scanning his body, he noticed the dark red stain expanding on his thigh. He fingered through the ragged gap and stretched it widely to see a gash there.

"Fuck," he gasped. "Fuck." Out of pure instinct, Cato grabbed the hem of his shirt and tore an entire sleeve off. He quickly tore the portion of his jeans beneath the wound and wrapped the cloth around his gash. Though it hurt, he tightly bit down on nothing to keep himself from screaming.

Once the wound was seemingly taken care of, he attempted to stand up and found it surprising that he didn't feel the pain anymore. He didn't know how that was possible, but there was a chance that his wound was, for the most part, under control. Then he started walking aimlessly, turning around in random corners of the forest he was in until voices caught his attention. Over a dozen of them, in fact, and he found himself making his way there.

When he arrived, what he saw confused him for a second. There was debris—burning metal scraps, broken chairs, and thick scrapings of paint—everywhere on the sandy beach. People ran about among themselves in panic, in search of something or someone. Some were resuscitating what seemed to be one of their own on the ground, unmoving. He caught the sight of one particular person by the shore, knelt down and bobbing up and down like in a trance. She was praying. What for, Cato didn't know.

All of this was confusing. The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. But he did remember; the airplane breaking apart and it suddenly plummeting down to nowhere. He remembered extending his arm out to protect Natalia-

Natalia.

Anxiety overwhelmed him as he frantically and persistently turned to find his wife. She was nowhere to be seen. He would know her blonde hair, those big blue eyes, and those beautiful lips that frequently glistened. But she was nowhere, and he was panicking immensely.

Over the yonder he saw what looked to be a blonde and tried to call out for her, but she turned around and it wasn't Natalia. What was he supposed to do?

"Help!" A male voice screamed gutturally.

He quickly swapped attention to the scream and sprinted across the debris. What he saw was astounding; a boy not much younger than him on the ground with a portion of the airplane tail on top of his legs.

"I-I can't move!" the boy yelled.

Cato only stared. He was in shock, and he sure as hell wasn't a doctor. What if the boy's entire legs were crushed after pulling him out? What the hell was he gonna do then?

Before he even moved, another masculine figure jumped in front of him and grabbed onto one of the wing's sides.

"Hey, you!"

Cato blinked rapidly.

"Gimme a hand with this," he ordered powerfully as he tried to lift the debris on his own.

In realization of what was asked, Cato dashed in and proceeded to help the man shove it away.

"1, 2..." they simultaneously counted then shoved the object away. Then they bent over to help the boy up, but then he fell over immediately as he tried to walk.

"My left leg hurts really bad..." he whimpered. Cato exhaled, bending over in front of him and effectively giving a piggyback ride. Then he scoured around what remained of the plane, using his legs to pull the boy on his back away from all of this. He found a meadow away from the sand, and gently plopped him in front of the tree.

As Cato turned to leave, the boy's hand tugged him back in.

"Wait, my friends... they're out there too! You have to find them, please!" he pleaded desperately.

Cato's eyes twinkled in sympathy, his countenance scrunching up in frustration and stress.

"I will," he lied. "I'll find them for you."

"Thank you- um, what's your name?" the boy asked.

"Cato."

He smiled. "I'm Peeta."

Cato gave a hasty smile back with a nod, swinging around to help the others and hope that Natalia also turned out. He loved her too much to lose her just like that.

He eventually lost count of how many people he helped, and still no Natalia. It also turned out one of the plane engines were still operating and spinning, which was bad news based on the movies he saw before. The other man who helped rescue Peeta was commanding people like a drill officer, his bald head lubricated by sweat.

Then it happened. He ordered people away from the engine, but one man thought it would be a good idea to pick up his belongings that just so happened to be in front of the engine. Needless to say, the fan inside began to spin so fast that it vacuumed the man, and boom. It exploded.

The flaming debris flew from the sky, and Cato was pushed back down to the ground. Someone shielded him. He looked up and saw the supposed drill sergeant above him.

"You okay, kid?" he asked.

Cato nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Once fiery metallic objects stopped raining from the air, Cato was pulled right up.

"My name's Brutus."

"Uh..." Cato hesitated, intimidating by the musculature of his extended hand. "Cato." He shook it anyways.

Brutus smiled in satisfaction.

"Alright, I need you to round about the survivors. Can you do that for me, Cato?"

Cato nodded.

Brutus mirrored him. Then they separated.

* * *

"Are you excited?" Natalia asked cheekily, her tongue sticking upward and touching her upper lip. Her dentures were white as clouds, and that smile made her so much more beautiful. They were holding hands, both seated in the airplane and looking at each other romantically.

"What?" Cato replied obliviously.

Natalia narrowed her eyes incredulously. "Going back home, of course. Our home."

Cato smiled. He brought her hand close to his lips, staring as his wife as he gave her backhand a peck. "Of course I'm excited. We have our life made right in front of us, isn't that cool?"

"Yep, and this ring you put on my finger?" she presented it. "I'm still so in love with it. It's going to be my favorite piece of jewelry ever."

Cato pretended to be hurt. "You're more in love with the ring, huh? That's depressing..."

Natalia attacked him with a wet kiss on his lips. "You know I love you already. I love you, you love me, we're a happy-"

"None of that, please," he laughed. "My cousins watch enough Barney and once they start, they can't quit."

"Well, they're not here, are they?" she trailed her slender fingers on his chest. They twirled in circles and moved downward around his navels.

Cato looked down with just his eyes, an evil grin breaching his face. He grabbed her hand and pulled it closer to his crotch, and she immediately shoved away.

"Oh my god, Cato!" she yelled.

Then an elderly couple a few seats away from them shushed them with the whole finger-to-lips thing. The newly wedded couple glanced at them then back to each other, snorting out a hushed laugh.

"I love you, Cato," she said.

Cato smiled, leaning over to kiss her. "I love you more, Nata-"

The plane suddenly shifted as it hit a turbulence. Cato jumped when it happened, and almost elbowed his wife in the face.

"You almost _hit_ me, husband," she stated.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't expect that. This whole air travel thing is new to me..."

"What is this, your fourth time? I thought you'd get used to turbulence."

Cato shook his head in shame. "Nope, I still shit my pants every time it happens."

"That's unfortun-"

Another turbulence. This time it was more intense.

"That was a good one," Natalia let out a giggle.

Cato clutched onto his seat tightly, breathing through his nose. "That's not funny, Natalia!"

"It's so cute watching you get scared. I'm sure we'll be fine..."

He glared at her. "That's the kind of shit that gets people killed."

"Please, we can't die today. I still want to have children."

"Right now?" Cato teased.

"Hm..." she seriously thought about it, perching her chin between her fingers. "How about when we get back home... like, as soon as we get back?"

Cato raised his eyebrows. "Are you... serious? You really want to?"

"Yes, I even thought of their names!"

"Oh _god_... you're probably dead set on using the name Justin."

Natalia sighed. "No... that's just one of my choices."

Cato smirked. "Let's do it anyway. I can't imagine my life without you. Let's get started early."

They embraced silently in their seats. Then they hit a turbulence, or so they thought. It felt as if Cato's insides were flipping, which meant the plane was going downward very fast. The tail broke off, and suddenly everything went black.

* * *

Everyone were grouped together about two hours later, the flames having dissipated from the debris. There were about fifty people in total, all in a circle listening to Brutus speak about what they were to do.

"I understand that we were all surprised, unpleasantly might I add. But help will come, and we'll be rescued soon," he sounded completely assured of himself. "But for now, for however long it takes, we need to make sure we live through the night, and I can already feel the cold coming in."

Meanwhile, Cato looked and did not see his wife whatsoever. Tears fell from his eyes, and they didn't stop. But he wasn't alone... he knew that for sure, and he was grateful for that.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Okay, so this was just a little project. It's inspired by Lost, the TV show (which if you haven't seen, you should totally go watch it). Although inspired, it's not a mirror of it. It'll steer almost 90% of the time. Characters are different, motivations are different, all of that.

The current pairings that I'm going for right now is Peeta/Cato, Katniss/Clove, Marvel/Glimmer, Finnick/Annie (established), and probably some other minor established couples. How do y'all feel about this idea? It's late right now, hence the chapter's a bit... short, but I promise it'll be longer in the next installment. Basically, airplane crashes on an island and they wait for rescue, but stuff happens that make this difficult to happen.


	2. Chapter 2: Adjustment

Night rolled around soon, and everyone adjusted themselves to the setting quickly. Many opted to use the scraps as cover just in case it was to rain. They managed to salvage bottles of water from what remained of the airplane and held it all in one stash, though the bodies inside the plane were still in there without any hints of life. Cato, for once, picked up what looked like a blanket and set up a makeshift tent. His suitcase (luckily not damaged as were the other's belongings) was right next to him, filled with many things that could only give him hope each time he looked.

Clothes were inside with some accessories and grooming tools like a razor or tweezer. He placed his tent somewhat close to the others, because there was a sense of safety in numbers, and their large fireplace was there to keep them warm through the night. And it would also alert any nearby rescue boats, if it was working as Brutus said.

It turned out Brutus actually was a drill officer, serving the military for a while before retiring not too long ago. He was disciplined and strong, had leadership skills beyond anyone else's-the perfect example of someone to keep everyone in line.

Cato twirled his wedding ring between his fingers, frowning as he thought of his wife. She was presumably dead since he couldn't find her earlier, and that pissed him off greatly. He would periodically squeeze the ring in anger that it could practically grind it into dust, but reality was cruel-the ring was unaffected, and the only thing that hurt was the circular imprint on his palm. Snarling, he shoved the ring back into one of the pockets of his suitcase.

As he was preparing to get some rest for the night, someone else approached him. A girl with olive skin and dark hair, smiling at him. Cato looked at her confusingly. She was dressed in comfortable brown pants and a black tank-top with the hem of those pants shoved into her sneakers. She looked awfully comfortable.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"No, you already did that. Peeta told me to come thank you for finding us."

Cato's eyebrows scrunched. "What?" He didn't remember saving them, though that would be a plausible excuse seeing as everyone was in a moment of panic.

"Right?" she said rhetorically with a chuckle. "I mean I already said thank you, but Peeta wanted me to thank you again in his place for being here."

Cato exhaled lightly through his nose. "Oh."

"Yeah," she drawled, then a look of realization appeared on her face. "Oh yeah, he also told me to tell you that his left leg, the one that's not working, is fine. Just... a lil' fractured. Luckily, my mom's a doctor so she patched him enough to where he could at least go take a piss without falling over and eating sand."

Cato genuinely laughed, his lips curling into a wide grin. He didn't know why that was funny, but the severity of their situation made things like that a little funnier than intended. They shared a laugh for the next two minutes, conversing about what they were planning on doing.

Katniss said she she wanted to just wait with her friends and family for the rescue to come. Cato pursed his lips. He wanted to find his wife.

"Anyways, I gotta go back. My sister can't seem to sleep without me," she said with a shrug and spun around.

Cato waved, but she turned back immediately.

"By the way, I'm Katniss!" Then she was gone.

Cato then drifted off to sleep with more comfort than expected, hoping for a dream to ease his suppressed grief. His wife was dead, and here he was making jokes with a girl who he only knew for a few minutes. He just wanted to find happiness in something, and when that happiness just happened to be his wife and she's dead, there wasn't much to look for. He felt empty without Natalia. He missed running his fingers through her soft hair and caressing her contoured delicate cheekbones. He even missed the way she'd pout to pretend being upset at him, which was an absolute blessing to witness while she lived. And now... emptiness.

He threw a red cover from his suitcase over himself and used a stack of towels as a pillow before drifting off to sleep. The boy could have sworn to feel something soak his makeshift pillow as he tried to get rest.

When he woke up, the sun has just risen from the horizon in a grand allure of yellow. Yawning, he stretched his arms out and fingered the crustiness away from the corners of his eyes. After doing that, he blinked several times to make sure this wasn't a dream or anything. It wasn't a dream, he realized. His place really did crash into this island, and his wife was really dead.

Cato wanted to cry, but he couldn't. His tear ducts went bone dry through the night from so much crying. Lack of good sleep was evident by the dark circles present underneath his eyes. Gazing at the beach, he became entranced by the repeating waves. They didn't reach close to him and the others at all, but they were close enough to see and hear at the same time. It was serenity in its purest form, and it forced his eyes closed. Everyone was asleep. the panic, at least temporarily, had subsided and there were no one to revive the grief inside of him.

He had to be hopeful, too. He had to hope that Natalia didn't die and was waiting for him to find her. That was a far-fetched concept, but he liked it because he loved her. Just the idea made him hopeful.

Standing up, Cato folded the red cover neatly and put it gently back into his suitcase. Then he looked down to see his dirty clothes. He sighed and curtained himself with the blue drape used as a tent. He quickly took his shirt and pants off, put some antibacterial agent from his case to disinfect his thigh wound (albeit with some pain) and wrap it up with actual bandage, then put on new ones. He wore a simple blue t-shirt and khaki shorts that extended just where his thighs would meet the knees. The cold weather was replaced with a warm one, caused by the ocean, and he got out to take a little bit of a walk around the place.

The debris were never cleaned up, not completely at the very least, therefore they were all left to sink into the damp sand. He saw several dead bodies and grimaced at the sight of them, hoping that something would soon be done about them. He hadn't seen someone die until now, right in front of his very own eyes, and he already grew tired of it. He didn't want to get used to that.

That made him wonder where the rescue team were, because none of them were apparent. Sure it had only been onenight, bu they could have at least tracked where they were and broadcast it to the nation for everyone to know. This event probably made the news, like all other plane crashes, which was sad in the context of so many deaths and injuries. Over 75% of the airplane population was dead, and the lucky 25% survived with superficial injuries. Many of the dead were mutilated in the accident, and they had visible first degree burns on their back from too much sun. This was why staying under the shade was important to Cato, so he wouldn't have to deal with that.

As time flew, people started waking up and getting to work. Many of them opted to help salvage and usable parts of the plane that might help them. Cato was scavenging the plane for food. There were plenty of them closed in foils, and they had enough sporks to spare. He picked a stack of them and went off to deliver one by one.

* * *

"Peeta, try walking for me," Prim said. She was blonde, the complete opposite of her sister Katniss, and reached up to about his elbows. She was his caretaker while their mother was gone, too busy going around checking on the wounded.

He rolled his eyes. "I told you I'm fine..." He was honestly fine.

"That's because of the crutches we got you from inside the plane," she explained. Peeta forgot that it was Gale, Katniss' best friend, that dug through every crevasse of the already-desecrated plane for anything that can help him move-even a wheelchair was possible, but there turned out to be a crutch. Two, actually, like a set. And they gave them to Peeta.

"So?" he asked.

Prim sighed. "If you're not gonna do that for me, could you at least rest so we won't have to worry about you messing your leg up?"

Peeta frowned, flapping his red shirt up and down to dissipate the sweat. He was just in his boxers, as instructed by Mrs. Everdeen, so that he wouldn't feel constricted in his sleep. In fact, he was still sitting on the fabric that he used as bed last night. "I won't mess it up... I still want to walk." Not being able to walk sounded like hell.

"Then act like you wanna get bett-"

"Hey!" a familiar voice interjected. Prim and Peeta looked where it was coming from. Cato.

"Hi, Cato," Peeta greeted with a toothless smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Cato plainly stated. "I was just passing around food I found in the plane. You both want one?" he asked, pointing his chin at the stack in his arms.

Prim nodded, but asked for an extra three for Katniss, Gale, and her mother. Cato accepted and gave that exact amount.

"Yeah, I'll take one. Thanks," Peeta said, then realized he's been saying thank you to him a bit too much. "Again," he giggled.

Cato smiled politely. "No problem. I'll catch you two later, Peeta and..."

"Primrose, but you can't call me Prim," she said.

"Prim," he echoed. "See you two later." Cato walked off to continue lending the plastic trays of food.

Peeta couldn't help staring at Cato's backside, damp with sweat caused by the heat. His eyes trailed lower down to the man's pronounced and defined buttocks bulging out of those shorts, probably made that way from working out. Cato's calves were thick and strong, and his thighs were large enough to squish a man's head.

Prim noticed the boy's staring. "Oh, no..."

Peeta glared at her. "What?" he asked as he began to pick at the sand underneath their little makeshift tent, which was actually bigger than most to act as shelter to five people.

"This is the worst situation to fall in love, Peeta-"

"I'm not in love with him," he explained. Biting his lips, his eyes frantically roamed everywhere on the beach. "It's just a little crush..."

"A crush?" a female voice repeated.

Peeta looked at smiled. "Hey, Katniss. Gale."

Both of them waved and nonchalantly dropped some of the things they brought to the side. Katniss was holding mostly gigantic bundles of sticks, and had a floral patterned bag on her back. Gale, on the other hand, had huge metal scraps that could potentially be melded down to other objects.

"Wow, you both are monsters," Peeta joked.

A flick of a finger landed on his forehead, and he pulled away in pain. "Ow! What the hell, Katniss?!" he yelled.

"That wasn't me, Peet," she chuckled.

He looked at her confusingly and then at Gale, who had a toothy grin on his face. Peeta liked Gale, but this was humiliating to be flicked like that.

Peeta weakly punched Gale on the chest. "Don't do that," he said. Gale acted like his entire torso blew up and just laughed alongside Katniss. Although they weren't related in any way, there were similarities between Gale and Katniss; the dark hair and olive skin, the eyes of a hawk, and their ability to know what each other's thinking without a word. Peeta secretly felt jealous of their connection, because he's yet to receive one like it

* * *

Everyone was supposedly asleep by now, the soothing noise of the wave putting them to slumber like a lullaby until a large growl caught their attention. Cato was the first one to wake up, jumping out of his tent and looking out toward the inside of the island where it was coming from. Trees were crashing down dramatically, and other survivors of the crash flocked together once more to check out what was happening. They all just watched in confusion and fear.

"That could be Jay, Thresh!"

Cato glanced and saw a dark-skinned girl pulling at the arms of a larger man who was probably a brother or so.

He pulled harder than she did and held her tightly in his large arms. "No, Rue, that ain't Jay..."

Cato didn't know who Jay was, but if they were human then this monstrous noise and crashes weren't caused by a single person. The sound was bestial in nature, and everyone had the right to be afraid once more.

Soon enough, the noise stopped and everyone regained their composure. Over half of the people couldn't sleep well that night.

Cato was one of them.

* * *

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Whew! I got three reviews already? That's amazing, honestly. Do you guys think I should make each chapter around 2000 words, or would you all want something more? Longer the chapter, probably longer you'll have to wait and that usually messes with my muse.

Also, yes, not all of the characters have been introduced yet! We got a very quick peek at Rue and Thresh, but where are the others? They'll appear as the story progresses. Not /all/ of the survivors are going to get POV parts. It's usually Cato's POV, but we'll get some of other main characters later.)


	3. Chapter 3: A Little Revelation

The next morning was hectic to say the least. Everyone was preoccupied by what happened last night that they didn't get enough sleep to do anything remotely physical. It must have been well past twelve o' clock because the sun was shining directly above them, and sadly no one had a working watch that survived the plane crash. From oversleeping, an obvious indication of high stress levels, no one noticed how fast time was flowing for them. Needless to say, Cato also felt extremely tired and barely had enough energy to lift a finger. It wasn't until a loud masculine yell that he found himself waking up and walking out of his tent to investigate the event.

He slithered through the crowd of dozens only to see two men brawling; Brutus was in the midst of grappling a younger boy around the same as Cato, only taller. He didn't quite understand what was going on, but he knew that Brutus was successfully subduing the guy without breaking a single bead of sweat. Others watched and waited until things calmed down. Eventually, the boy helplessly dropped down onto the damp sand and began pawing at it.

"When are we getting rescued?" he complained with an upset expression, possibly on the verge of crying. Cato couldn't quite tell from his distance, but the boy's eyes looked wetter and redder than they should have been. The boy immediately put his face away in shame, trying to not cry in front of everyone. Brutus crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

"I don't know, son," he said sadly.

The younger man shoved Brutus away from him, his mouth deviating to that of an exhausted scowl. "I'm not your son!" he yelled. "It's been two days. You said they would come eventually, so where are they?!" This time he was actually crying, streams of tears overflowing the contours of his cheekbones and falling off the rims of his nostrils. Mucus piled right above his cupid's arrow. This boy was very much sobbing. Cato thought about what he said too, and he was right. The rescuers should have at least picked them up by now, but there was absolutely nothing so far. People were only blindly following their wishes without realizing that they could be thousands of miles away from where they were supposed to be.

People began chattering among themselves. Brutus stood up, and inhaled deeply as they talked.

"All of you!" he shouted. "I'm going to search for means of communication. I've scoured this part of the plane and the cockpit's not here, which means it could potentially be somewhere in there," he pointed at the forest, "and I need three people willing to go with me."

"I'll go!" Someone already piped up. Cato looked and saw Peeta with a single arm raised, walking on crutches.

"Peeta, no... you can't," Prim said.

"Wha- Mrs. Everdeen, you can't seriously think this will deter me away from helping!" He was visibly upset as well, desperate to help others in need instead of receiving help that was already overdue for him. Cato liked that about him. Now that he observed the younger boy, he noticed the similarities between him and his wife's features. He had the same shade of hair color, the same fair skin, the same colored eyes... as if God was playing tricks on him because he couldn't keep her out of his mind.

"Honey, Prim is right, you can't do this. At least not now," Mrs. Everdeen responded courteously. Peeta looked at her in disbelief and pursed his lips angrily. His arms flexed and relaxed.

"Fine."

"You're gonna... go in there?" one of crowd's people gasped out. "With the monster walking around-"

"There's no such thing as monsters, ladies and gentlemen," Brutus plainly stated. "Monsters are things that belong in fairy tales and myths." He wasn't... exactly wrong. That alone put the rest of the people on silence.

Meanwhile, Cato couldn't help but glance at Peeta periodically through this moment of quietness. He saw how much the boy wanted to go, and Cato somehow felt... indebted to help him. Raising his muscular arm, he gathered the attention of everyone else around.

"I'll go," he stated.

Brutus smirked impressively. "Perfect. I need two more."

"Me," the boy who was knee-deep in the sand said as he stood up. He wiped his face with his shirt and nodded affirmatively. "Me. I'm going."

"Okay. One more. Who else wants to help?"

In the corner of the crowd, Katniss was thinking. Should she go and risk dying? Her mother was already busy tending to the injured survivors, which meant Prim would be left alone with Gale if something was to happen to her. She glanced at Gale and he stared back at her. They didn't need to say anything. He nodded.

She turned her head to Brutus and walked forward. "I'll go."

"You're a girl," Brutus' formerly subdued boy said doubtfully.

"Exactly," Katniss smiled.

* * *

"Peeta," Prim called. The sun was setting down and it had been about six hours since the four volunteers, one of them being Cato, went into the forest in search of the plane's cockpit. Everyone had energy to rekindle the fire and the other leftover trays of food from the plane. Some were feasting while some of the others worked. Some swam in the ocean, families mostly.

Peeta ignored the girl, his arms crossed and his bottom lip pouting like a child.

"Peeta," she repeated.

He continued to ignore her. This time he looked directly away from her. There was silence for a second until her head popped down from above, her facial parts all swapped around. She was looking at him upside down.

"What, Prim..." he asked in annoyed tone.

She glared at him. "Why aren't you talking to me?"

"Because... uh," he slurred, "reasons."

"You know," she said with hope gleaming in her eyes, "If you're worried about the people who left, I'm sure they're fine."

"Who said I was worried?" Peeta rhetorically said, pretending not to care about what she was saying. He was pissed that he couldn't go and that his savior had to do so in his place instead. He really wanted to prove that he was capable even with a leg not working properly. He was strong and not a baby anymore.

"Katniss is with them. She's my invincible sister! They're fine." It was as if Prim already knew Peeta was worried about the people, more so about Cato because he never got to thank him properly or return any favor. In addition, the fact that Katniss volunteered to go pissed him off even more.

Prim scowled. "You're such a debby downer, Peeta. I'm going to play with Rue."

His face contorted in confusion. "Who?"

"A girl my age. She likes to do hair and likes animals. Gale will be back, so you won't be alone for long. Bye." Then she was gone.

Peeta felt bad for being so dismissive towards her, but did he not have a valid reason to feel angry? He looked toward the forest. Maybe he could do it...

* * *

"So, what's your name?"

"Cato," he said plainly without looking at the guy. They were behind Brutus with heavy backpacks just in case there were items that could be salvaged for reuse. The woods were a taxing environment, the muddy ground pulling their feet down with each step. Vines and fallen branches snapped at their wake like nothing. For all they know, the beast from last night could have been roaming around. Katniss was right behind Brutus while the two young men were behind by several meters.

"Cool. My name's Marvel. Sorry for being pathetic."

Cato glanced at him curiously then looked forward again, rapidly blinking. "Pathetic? What do you mean?" The guy may have cried about wanting to go home, but he wasn't pathetic. If anything, Cato agreed and would have done the same thing, but his tear ducts were way too dry.

"You know, crying. My mother always told me boys don't cry. I'm fucking nineteen and I still cried like a lil' baby because I missed home..."

"Your... mother?" Cato asked. "Was she on the plane?"

Marvel shook his head. "No, thank God. If circumstances were different, I wouldn't be here."

"That sucks, dude," Cato said sympathetically.

"Nah, it's cool. You're about my age, aren't you? Was any of your family on the plane?" he inquired.

Cato stopped dead in his tracks, looking down as he thought about Natalia. Then he kept going.

"Yes," he said.

"Did they survive?"

"No," Cato immediately answered. No hesitation. He rolled his eyes as if doubting himself. "I don't know, actually." She could have been alive, maybe on the other side of the island with a different section of the plane. He had to believe.

"Oh... sorry for asking," Marvel apologized. His facial expression was genuine, and Cato just smiled.

"It's okay."

"No, no. I'm seriously sorry for asking. I really need a filter on my mouth. You know, like a muzzle." He used his hands to make what was supposed to be a muzzle but it ended up looking like a circle.

Cato laughed. Marvel smirked cheekily.

"I have a feeling we're gonna get along," he said.

For some reason, Cato believed him.

"Hey, you two!" Katniss called, her body turned to address them as Brutus continued walking. "Hurry up! He found a metal scrap stuck in a tree trunk. He thinks the cockpit could be near." Then she ran off, jumping over the roots sticking out from underground.

Marvel shrugged and nudged Cato forward. The blond rolled his eyes and began to walk hastily toward Brutus. Marvel followed right behind him.

They walked for what seemed like hours, the sun disappearing over the gigantic mountain in the middle of the island. The sky had this rainbow coming from where the sun was setting, and Cato thought that it was beautiful. He didn't get the chance to relish it because they were still moving.

"It's right here!" Brutus yelled.

Cato and Marvel looked at each other simultaneously then ran forward to check it out. They saw what was obviously the cockpit, except the front area was tilted upward and one would have a hard time climbing up that way. There were several corpses from where it broke off from the main part of the airplane, and vines wrapped around it. Cato even saw fungus growing on it.

"Holy shit," Marvel said.

"Damn right," Brutus replied and went forward. Katniss teetered right behind him.

"So, we climbing up to the cockpit?" she asked.

"You guys can stay here while I go take a look," Brutus stated and began climbing up toward the cockpit without receiving a reply. He was using the attached chairs as ladder to go up, even though some of them still had bodies on it.

"Fuck that," Marvel simply said and climbed right after him. He seemed to have a hard time because he couldn't go up until about the third try.

Katniss, though, she was fantastic. She had a natural talent for climbing things. Her legs swung left and right, doing all kinds of impossible feats like jumping over chairs and twisting around to not fall.

Cato huffed and climbed as well. It was about ten minutes into the climbing that they got to the cockpit. Well, everyone but Cato. He wasn't trying to go to the cockpit, but rather trying to look for his newly wedded wife. There was a chance she could be alive and breathing, just in need of a lift. But he couldn't find her.

Meanwhile, the three in the cockpit toyed around with the military-grade transceiver.

"Dammit!" Brutus yelled.

"What? What's wrong?" Marvel questioned as he tried to keep balance. They may have been in the cockpit but they were still standing on their sides, meaning they had to lean against walls to not fall.

"There's no signal. No bars, in new terms."

"Wha-what does that mean?" Marvel was asking way too many questions and possibly going into panic mode.

"It means we can't ask for help. We can take it back to the beach. I'll be able to build antennas of some sort with the metal scraps we salvaged. We could do that and acquire some signal. It'll take a while though."

"Well, it's a surefire plan, right?" Katniss asked calmly.

"Yes."

"Good, then let's go back."

Cato listened to them as he moved bodies away from bodies, digging through their profits for tools. One of them had a Swiss army knife in his boots. How he got to smuggle that through the airport, he didn't know but it would be useful in the future. A random body fell right behind him and almost snagged him through the plane and onto the ground. "Shit," he muttered as he gathered balance.

"Cato, what's wrong?" Marvel asked from the cockpit.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

He suddenly heard whimpering from the restroom. He made his way there in zig-zags, going through the corpses and heaving himself in areas without an edge to grab on. Once he reached the restroom, he tried to open it and found out it was either locked or jammed. He pulled out the army knife that he scavenged from his pocket and used the tools attached to open the door. It opened and a body immediately dumped itself on him.

"Fuck!" Cato yelled.

The three people in the cockpit was in the midst of leaving as they saw what happened.

"Who's she?" Katniss asked.

The color left Cato's eyes as he eyed the body up and down familiarly. His breathing became ragged and he could only bring himself to whisper one thing. "Na-Natalia...?"

* * *

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** DUN DUN DUN. I love doing cliffhangers. They're so fun to do.

I'm glad this is getting reviews. I actually receive a lot of muse for this. Next chapter's going to be emotional and it might be a stepping stone for Peeto ever happening. Clove isn't here yet, but don't worry! Cloveniss will happen soon. So will Marvel/Glimmer (what's the ship name for this?). Hope you enjoyed the chapter!)


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